


all of the stars in the sky start aligning or something

by The_Doom_Dahlia



Category: Falsettos - Lapine/Finn
Genre: F/F, F/M, First Meetings, Jewish Character, Jewish Charlotte, Lesbians, M/M, Pagers, Usage of Lesbian Slang, it's the 70s, nurse Charlotte, punk!Cordelia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-14
Updated: 2019-02-14
Packaged: 2019-10-27 20:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17773589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Doom_Dahlia/pseuds/The_Doom_Dahlia
Summary: how the lesbians from next door came to beornurse charlotte meets a very special patient after the girl gets in a mosh pit brawltitle from 'kimmy' by antarctigo vespucci





	all of the stars in the sky start aligning or something

**Author's Note:**

> inspired by a punk cordelia portrayed in real life performances of falsettos by @penicillinsteve on tumblr
> 
> thank you to my friend Josh for the name 'pain puppy'
> 
> enjoy some lesbians

“Evening, Nurse DuBois.”

Charlotte adjusted her bag, smiling to her mentor as she stepped out of the elevator and into the hall. “Evening, Doctor Princely.” she nodded to her. Leo had taken her under her wing at Columbia, where she taught part time, seeing her potential and wanting to help the next generation of young black doctors. Her transferring to the same, small hospital Charlotte worked at was a happy coincidence. “So,” she asked, walking with her “How bad is it tonight?”

“Heart attacks, gallstones, lightbulbs up the ass, the usual. Got a bunch of punks from a Pain Puppy show up town.”

“What kind of band name is Pain Puppy?”

“Beats me.” Leo shrugged. “Anyway, some skinheads crashed the show and a brawl started. Didn’t look too bad but worth a hospital trip for sure.”

Charlotte pressed a hand to her neck absentmindedly, touching the little Star of David necklace she wore. “Jeez.” she whispered. “How many?”

“Four - all girls. We already have nurses with three of them but the fourth was a straggler. You’ll be with her.” Leo said, and gestured to a moving stretcher. They followed it together to a room at the end of the hall, stepping aside as ordelies rushed off to other tasks. Doctor Princely thanked the remaining orderly, accepting their offered clipboard before leading Charlotte inside. She peered at the clipboard before looking up at their patient. “Cordelia Cooper, I presume.”

The girl on the bed didn’t respond, sedated from anaesthetic. Her eyes were half-lidded and gentle, mascara and eyeliner smudged around them. She’d been crying, probably from the pain.

“I’m Doctor Princely, and this is Nurse DuBois.”

Charlotte blinked for a moment, breaking herself from her own reverie. She’d been looking Cordelia over, her medical perspective slightly clouded by her own sapphic tendencies. Her face was soft and sweet, smeared with blood from a slightly crooked nose. Bruises were already forming, dark on her skin, Her jaw was off-center, dislocated, smeared lipstick running down to her chin. Her knuckles were bandaged heavily, but her hands were unharmed, and her leg was splinted and raised. “Hello.” she finally said, clearing her throat.

Cordelia nodded, breathing strangely. Her eyes were fixed on Charlotte, and something in her chest fluttered.

“Minor dislocation of the jaw. Let’s take care of that first.” Leo said, and took Cordelia’s jaw into her hands after putting on gloves. With a quick movement, she popped her jaw back into place. “There we are.” she said, careful not to hurt the patient further . “Nurse DuBois, wrap her head so her jaw stays stable. I’ll get her x-rays.” 

“Yes, Doctor.” Charlotte nodded, getting some bandages and wrapping her patient’s head, left alone with her once her jaw was stable. “Must have been some brawl, huh.” she laughed a little. To her surprise, the girl laughed with her and trained those gorgeous blue eyes so they met with hers. It made her heart kick into double time, but she tried to ignore it.

“Yeah.” Delia said, voice slightly slurred and warm as an oven. “You have really soft hands.” she murmured, wincing a little at the pain of talking but continuing. “Like an angel’s. Are you an angel?” she asked, tilting her head a little and putting a hand to her jaw. “Am I dead?” her voice turned a little frantic, eyes widening. 

“No, Miss Cooper, you’re not dead.” Charlotte assured her, pulling away. “You’re just a little high. It’s gonna be okay, alright?”

Cordelia slowly nodded, breath slowing. “You’re really good at comforting and stuff.” she whispered, leaning back a little. “Your voice is really good.”

Charlotte felt her cheeks burn, grateful when the Doctor came back. She helped to explain that Delia had a broken nose and a stable fracture. Nothing major, but she’d need to be in hospital for a few days while they patched her up. The sadness and frustration in the blonde’s eyes made Charlotte’s heart ache. Once Leo left again, Charlotte patted Cordelia’s shoulder. “I’m very sorry, Miss Cooper.”

“It’s okay.” she shrugged. “That just means I’ll be able to get to know you better!”

She chuckled. Patients said such strange things when they were on their medication. “I suppose you will. Now, do you need anything before I go?”

“Your phone number?”

“Anything serious, Cordelia.”

“Call me Delia. I guess not. Thanks.” she said, and waved as Charlotte left. 

Charlotte caught up with her mentor, looking down at the ground as they walked. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and she tried her best to look nonchalant as they kept working and she tried to get her mind off of soft blue eyes and hardcore girls.

* * *

 

Over the next few days the splint on Cordelia's leg was changed to a cast and her nose was closely monitored. Charlotte, as though by some divine intervention, was usually sent to her hospital room to check on her and take notes. Delia, usually awake and high on pain meds when Charlotte would come in, was a chatterbox and more than eager to tell her about herself: how she was a Virgo, wanted to be a chef, about her cat Brooklyn and her disapproving mother. On the fifth day, she tugged at Charlotte’s sleeve while she was checking on her healing nose.

“Yes, Miss Cooper?” Charlotte asked, looking at her over her clipboard.

“I have a tattoo.” she whispered as though it were a grand secret. Her eyes were alright with half-drugged glee. 

“Oh really?” Charlotte smiled wryly. When she was given a confirming nod, she asked “Well, why haven’t I seen it? These hospital gowns don’t hide much.”

“It’s somewhere where only very special girls can find it.”

The meaning of the sentence hit her like a brick to the head and she blinked a few times. “Girls, huh?”

“Yeah. Girls.”

“That’s an awfully brave thing to admit, Miss Cooper.”

“Or stupid. I don’t think it’s stupid to say it though. At least not to you. I feel like,” She paused, thinking of what to say. “I think you and I are the same. At least I sure hope we are.”

The nurse’s heart melted a little and she laughed. “Can I tell _you_ a secret?” she asked, allowing her voice to drop down into a whisper as she came in closer. 

Delia nodded, moving towards her as much as she could.

Just as Charlotte opened her mouth to speak, the pager at her hip went off with a beep. Cursing her luck, she grabbed it and looked it over. She was needed in surgery. “I have to go.” she said, it coming out more blunt than she’d hoped as she rushed out of the room. As she did, she looked back at Cordelia. The punk looked terribly disappointed, and that disappointment followed Charlotte all the way to the operation room.

That night, settled in at a bar near the hospital, she sat across from her mentor with that same sad cloud hanging over her. She looked at the pager like it was enemy number one, rolling it over in her hand while the other held her chin.

“You know you’re not going to get a call on that, right?” Leo laughed, sitting back down at their table with two glasses of wine - one for her and one for Charlotte. “You alright? You’re looking at that thing like it spat on your clothes in the subway.” she said, confused and concerned.

Charlotte deliberated whether or not to talk about it silently, before making a decision. “Can I give you a hypothetical situation?”

“Does a bear shit in the woods?”

“Okay. Say there’s a nurse friend of mine who’s a bit bull-ish, right? And a girl comes in, fucked up from a fight, they get close, and the bull is really interested in her. But she’s still a patient. What should she do?”

Leo thought, drumming her fingers on the table. She knew that, odds were, this wasn’t much of a hypothetical. She’d known Charlotte was a pearl diver since she’d become her mentor, and she didn’t mind a bit. Live and let live. That didn’t mean she was good at advice on topics like these. “Well, the way I see it, the bull can’t really go for anything until the patient is out of her care. However once she’s been discharged, and established that she’s interested in the bull too, I suppose there’s no harm in going after it.”

Charlotte nodded, taking a sip of her wine. “Thanks, Leona.”

“Don’t mention it. Tell your friend good luck from me.”

“I will, don’t worry about that.”

* * *

The next day she had work, Charlotte went on her usual morning rounds. Mentally, she counted rooms until she reached Cordelia’s. She was about to enter when one of the janitors emerged. The room was freshly cleaned and empty, ready for a new patient, and her heart sunk. “Son of a bitch.” she cursed under her breath. Her chance was gone, Delia had checked out. Still, she couldn’t cling onto that deep sense of sadness. She had patients to help. So, she tried to keep going.

When her shift ended, she was bone-tired and all she wanted to do was sit down somewhere and eat. The hospital cafeteria was full that day, so she decided to take a leap. She changed out of her scrubs into her civilian clothes, got cleaned up, and made her way to a nearby cafe. She settled by the window with her black coffee, unpacked her lunch, and began to watch the people going by when a familiar voice reached her ears.

“Hey! I’ve never seen you in here before.”

She turned, blinking a few times in surprise. It was Cordelia, settled in a wheelchair, pink steaks touched up. She was in a soft-looking blue and white swing dress and a leather jacket covered in pins and patches was zipped up to her collarbone. Charlotte’s heart kicked up and she smiled. “Hey, you. How’re you feeling?”

“Better, a lot more sober than I was.” she laughed. “I was just coming in to pick up my paycheck and I thought I’d say hi.” she explained, putting her hands on the wheels. “It was really good to see you though.” She began to leave, stopped by Charlotte’s hand gently resting on her arm.

“Wait,” she started. She took a deep breath, then asked “Do you maybe want to sit with me for a while? Just talk? You seem really cool and I’d really like to get to know you when you’re not all doped up on pain meds.” Charlotte was clearly deeply nervous, keeping her eyes locked on Cordelia’s.

Slowly, the blonde smiled. “Want a chance of seeing my tattoo, eh?”

Charlotte laughed. “Maybe I do. Maybe I want to see a lot more of you.” Watching Cordelia’s cheeks flush pink made her heart sing, and she happily moved over a little so her new lunch partner could get comfortable. They sat, talking for as long as they could, comfortable and happy in the little cafe.

* * *

“And that’s how I met my doctor.” Cordelia sighed happily, nestling her head in the crook of Charlotte’s shoulder and wrapping her arms tightly around her. “We’ve been practically inseparable ever since.”

“Adorable.” Trina cooed, eyes half-lidded as she swirled her wine in its glass. Mendel nodded, clearly more sober than his wife. 

“Enviable.” Marvin added, deadpan as always as his gaze flicked to his newly un-ex lover.

“Yeah, real cute.” Whizzer agreed, then turned to Marvin. “Hey Marv, wanna tell them how we met? I’m sure they wanna hear all about my video dating tape.” he asked, shit-eating grin spreading across his face. The laughter gleaned was worth it to him, even as he dodged a pillow Marvin threw.

An hour later, the lesbians left Marvin’s apartment arm in arm. After Trina and Mendel left, they’d started getting snide and it was decided between the two of them that it was a good time to leave. Better to avoid the foreplay than try to stop it. 

They slipped into their apartment, and Charlotte looked her wife over. The pink in her hair had long since faded, and the leather jacket hung in their closet like an old trophy, but when she laughed or looked at her all she could feel was the same love that had started all those years ago. She leant in and kissed her deeply, pulling her in tight and running a hand through her hair as Cordelia almost melted in her grasp. They pulled apart for air, giggling to each other. “I love you, Delia.”

“I love you too, Lottie.” she sighed happily, and kissed her again. Then her smile turned wicked. “Hey doc, wanna see my tattoo?” she asked, eyes glimmering.

Charlotte growled lowly, pressing kisses to her jaw and walking with her to their bedroom hand-in-hand. “Any time, Mrs. DuBois. Any time you want.”


End file.
